ISKANDAR PUTERI - “I was forced to work as a scammer for 14 hours a day, fed pork dishes and tortured with electric shocks if I was slow to finish my work.”
That was the ordeal faced by a young man from Johor Bahru who wished to be known only as Joe, 36, after being deceived by a human trafficking syndicate and trapped in Sihanoukville, Cambodia, for four months.
Joe was among five Malaysians rescued by Wisma Putra and the Foreign Affairs Ministry in Aug from a Cambodian scam syndicate.
When met at the Skudai State Assemblyman’s Service Centre, Joe recounted that his nightmare began after he received a job offer from a friend to work as a satay griller in Cambodia, with a promised salary of USD 1,500 (approximately RM6,300) per month.
"I was indeed working as a satay griller in Johor Bahru, so when a friend offered me the same job overseas, I was interested, especially after hearing how he could afford to buy a luxury car.
“On the sixth day of Hari Raya, April 5, I flew to Cambodia. My flight ticket was paid for by my friend and I was given RM2,000 in cash before departing.
“Later, my friend called me to apologise and told me to just follow whatever the company (the scammers) instructed. He admitted that he received a commission of USD2,000 for each victim,” he said.
However, what awaited him was far from what was promised. Joe said he was brought to the scammers’ base after being drugged with a drink while staying at a luxury hotel.
“Upon arriving at the base in Sihanoukville, which was equipped with dormitories and advanced technology, I was forced to make calls impersonating police officers and officers from the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC).
“I had to meet a target of RM50,000 to RM100,000 a month. If I failed, I would be tortured and locked in a room without food, only given a bottle of water.
“I noticed more than 40 Malaysians were working there, as well as foreigners from countries like Russia, Brazil and Arab nations. The men and women there mixed freely and were fed pork and alcohol,” he said.
Joe said when he and four other Malaysians attempted to escape, luck was on their side when the syndicate gave them two mobile phones and told them they would be sent to the Laos border to work as forced labourers or beggars.
“That was when we took the chance to contact Skudai assemblywoman Marina Ibrahim to ask for help to get us out of there.
“The five of us were very grateful to have been safely brought back to Malaysia on Aug 16.
“Even during the rescue process, I kept thinking about whether I would live or die, wondering which would come first: help or being killed or taken to the Laos border,” he said.